Lexusfreak

Personal attack? Who exactly & what was the attack?

Lil4X

Gentlemen, we appreciate that there is a considerable amount of national pride involved with the performance or lack thereof of the Canadian plant and or its workers. The Cambridge plant has been perhaps unjustly blamed for several "quality issues" in the current RX, but you can rest assured that Lexus will not allow these issues to go unresolved.

Manufacturing issues may be expected in the first few months of new production, particularly when a new product, a new manufacturing location, a new group of workers, and several new technologies all arrive on the assembly floor simultaneously.

Now, there are some good issues being addressed here, but let's back off the personal remarks and veiled insults. This is not in the spirit of CL, and although it may be acceptable on other forums, we do not encourage personal remarks here. OK?

mikey00

Cost is not a factor in the Consumer Reports reliability rating. The RX and the HL are very very close but I have to admit the HL edges out the RX.

Lexmex

I like my RX but I have friends down here with the Highlander (not sold in Mexico, though Toyota exists here) and all of our vehicles have held up equally well. Cannot give HL a bad wrap, rather a thumbs up

Itsuki_23

All European market current gen RX300's are made in Japan. Quality of the car is very good, no mechanical failures, no suspension problems, no engine/gearbox problems, no electrical problems - nothing. But only thing that has appeared on the RX - interior rattles - seat, doors, center console, dash. Car is very quiet, so those rattles are amplified. Lexus needs to fix this problem.

HarrierAWD

I guess that I can't take that as "personal attack" because my name isn't Harrier.

The CR reliability rating has nothing to do with the cost of the vehicle. It is based on its survey of CR subscribers. This year's rating is based on 810,000+ surveys that were collected.

Lexusfreak

All I'm saying is that I'm sure the plant in Japan had 'teething' problems when the very first RX 300's rolled off the assembly line back in the late 90's.......problems that every auto plant has when a brand new model is first introducted. No such serious or 'consistant' problems currently exist at either facility........I hope that remains the case now that the RX400h is hitting dealer lot's from Japan.

HarrierAWD

How come the new Highlander still has excellent reliability rating based on the CR survey? I believe that the new Highlander is built in the same Kyushu plant as the RX330.

The RX330 only received "very good" reliability rating. Apparently the "non-Japanese-made" RX330 brought down the quality and reliability. Can't blame "teething" problem because Toyota had to re-tool the Kyushu plant, too.

Lexusfreak

Let's see how the RX400h does in the coming months.

blue_rx330

I had a Canadian built Honda--absolute best car I've ever owned. Bullet-proof, never should have sold it.

I currently own an early Japanese-made RX330, and I think it had more rattles and noises than my '97 4-runner (and the 4-runner isn't a "luxury" car!). I chaulk it up to new-model teething also. I've also had several opportunities to drive Canadian built loaner RX330s, all seem fine to me... I think the root cause is bad early-design from Lexus (faulty Power Rear Hatch, loose dash, windshield cowl, transmission CPU, noise fuel-injectors, etc etc etc) Doesn't matter who built the thing if the parts and design were at fault.

BTW - I'm thrilled to hear they posted a TSB this week for the noisy fuel injectors!

Lexusfreak

There you go blue! I agree & that's my whole point to this Problems come out of any plant sometimes no matter what country the vehicle is built in. Robot's mostly put these vehicles together with the help of humans......Japanese or Canadian makes no difference.

If the RX plant in Japan was so great & the RX (or any Lexus model for that matter) was so well put together (read: Perfect) these forums would be almost empty with only comments of praise & questions of maintenance & colours.

krpster

I am sorry if you feel personally attacked, but you did begin by pointing the finger at Canadians that work at the factory. Because I am one of them I felt that the statements were unfair and felt that some defense was required. You further escalated the issue by taking a condescending tone with regards to your knowledge of kaizen and my inferred lack of understanding. Again as a long term employee of Toyota/Lexus I felt that was unfounded and unnecesary. You then finish off by putting me on the ignore list simply because my opinion differs from yours. What can I say...

jcg

I'm going to have to agree with the "retard" HarrierAWD. In front of me I have the APR 05 CR annual auto issue. Page 18 explains the criteria used for their reliability ratings and there is NO mention of price.

blue_rx330

>>Harrier - Perhaps someone could tell me why the Japanese-made new-gen Highlander got CR's best rating for reliability, while the RX330 only got the 2nd best rating. Both have the new 3.3L engine and 5-speed tranny, among other things.

>>jcg - I have the APR 05 CR annual auto issue. Page 18 explains the criteria used for their reliability ratings and there is NO mention of price.

I suspect that price is "implied" and can't be avoided.

It's my understanding that CR collects their feedback through surveys of their subscribers....Isn't it possible / plausible that consumers are MORE critical of a expensive vehicle vs. a less expensive vehicle?

In other words, I'd be more forgiving of a minor problem in a $20K or $30K car than if I had a minor problem in a $40K car. A $40K car also has more moving parts to break.
(translation, Lexus owners whine more about little things)

And now I'm reaching on the next statement, but its also possible that the Hyndai which they ranked as the MOST reliable car is actually not the MOST reliable...but it is simply being perceived as being the most reliable. That particular car gives their buyers so much value for the money, and it has so many features for a car in that price range...that people feel good about it. More power to them!

HarrierAWD

No sir, because the RX300 has always received the excellent rating in the past.